Knights dump Spartans

Tuesday

Feb 5, 2013 at 1:22 AMFeb 5, 2013 at 1:24 AM

Regional basketball from El Paso

Erich Murphy

There was no drama and there were no surprises Monday night as Fieldcrest overwhelmed Olympia in the second game of the first round of the Class 2A El Paso-Gridley Regional girls’ basketball tournament. And that suited FHS head coach Ron Kreiser just fine, whose team won 57-14. “I like that we got the game in and didn’t have to overextend,” Kreiser said. “We’re not the deepest group and if we would have had to push the first five real hard and then turn around and play a team as deep as Tremont would have been a real tall task.” Haley Ruestman delivered scoring passes to Tessa Holland in the first minute as Fieldcrest jumped out to a 4-0 lead. For all intents and purposes, it was all over at that point. Olympia managed a basket on a break with 6:08 left in the first quarter. The Spartans did no score again until the second period. Fieldcrest was using its pressure to get some offense going. Ruestman had nine points in the first period and Julia Jochums added a trio of 3-pointers as the Knights built a 28-2 advantage. The Knights scored the last 24 points of the first period and the first two of the second in making it a 30-2 game. It appeared as if things were going to get really bad for the Spartans. But Kreiser called off his press and Coral Peters hit a 3-pointer for Olympia to bring a little life to the Corn Belt Conference team. The Spartans managed one more basket before halftime. It was not nearly enough, however. Fieldcrest was able to tally 11 markers in the second quarter and 12 in the third using mainly bench players. The Knights’ top two players — Holland and Ruestman — were virtually unheard from after the first 10 minutes of the game. Jochums added a pair of 3-pointers for Fieldcrest in the third quarter. As a team, Fieldcrest made eight shots from beyond the 3-point line. That was two more than Olympia had in total field goals. Jochums had 15 points for the Knights (18-9), who now face second-seeded Tremont in the second semifinal game tonight. Ruestman added 9 points and Holland chipped in 8. Brooke Klendworth and Alayna Schwiderski each scored 6 points while Lesley Hakes and Alexis White contributed 4 points apiece.Eureka 58, Dee-Mack 36 The Hornets moved into the semifinal round with a 58-36 win over Dee-Mack in the evening’s first game. This sets up a rematch of last year’s sectional battle between Eureka and El Paso-Gridley in the first semifinal game tonight. Michaela Balducci had 22 points and Katie Schwanke added 10 for the Hornets. Eureka trailed 14-10 early in the second quarter before taking off on a 12-point run en route to a 31-23 halftime advantage. The Hornets reeled off 18 straight points in the third quarter to pull away.

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